Steam-plant system.



J. U. QUINN. STEAM PLANT SYQTEM.

APPLICATION FILED we. 4,

l fiatented-mar. 21, 1911 3 SHEETS-SHEET l.

J. G. QUINN. STEAMPLANT SYSTEM. APPLICATION FILED AUG. 4, 1908.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

Patented Mar.21,1911.

J" GVQUINN. STEAM PLANT SYSTEM,

Yum-Tim FILED AUG-.4, 190a.

Patented Mar. 21, 1911.

s sums-sum s JOHN ('1, coins, or NEVJ YORK, it. Y.

STEAM-PLANT SYSTEM.

Specification ofLetters Patent. I Patgggted. may, %1 13221131Application-filed August 4, 1908. Eierial No. 446,868.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that 1, JOHN C. QUINN, a

citizen of the United States, and a resident of the horoughof Manhattan,in the city, county, and State of liew York,

number of the furnace boilers thereof, each of which is operated undersuch fixed conditions of combustion as may be best suited to itsparticular requirements, and supplying the remaining and fluctuatingportion of the load demand-from a further number of furnace boilersWhich are variably operated for this purpose. ln this manner it is it.-tended that preferably a major portion of the total vaporizationrequirement of the plant shall be supplied from an appropriate number ofboiler furnaces, operated under conditions approaching as closely aspossible to maximum ei'iiciencyi and thus with the least consumption offuel, While the losses inevitably attendant upon regulation ofcombustion to meet fluctuations of load, are confined tothecomparatively smaller number ofyariably operated furnaces and are hencecorrespondingly reduced. The method in its preferred detail contemplatesthe regulation of those boilerswhich serve the constanflsupply furnaces.by introducing into the same aconstant delivery of forced air andadjusting the stack dampers thereof so that a fire-chamber pressureapproximat ing atmospheric pressure is normally maintained therein. 'lhe appropriate regulation of the variable supply furnaces isaccomplished by varying theamount of forced draft admitted to theirash-pits, the stack dampers of such variable furnaces remain.

ing in a fixed position of adjustment which is preferably suited to thenormal or average requirement upon them. The duty of generating thenormal or average output of steam Will be thus divided between the constant and ariable furnaces, the variable furnaces being operated.tosatisfy such fluctuations as ordinarily take placeybutdn" the event ofa change in' load ekceeding'the limits of range served by variablefurnaces,

have invented cerfaln mew and useful lmprovel the invention contemplatesa general regib l lation of the constant supply furnaces or of all thefurnaces in order to meet the emergency. This general regulation may beand preteral'ily is effected, in forced draft/systoms, by varying theforce of the draft as by retarding oraccelera-ting the speed of theblower engine, until the desired condition of balance is again restored.

The details of, the method, as automati- ..ally carried out, Will bemore apparent from a consideration of the apparatus shown in theaccompanying drawings, which also include certain mechanical featuresconstituting part of the invention.

Referring to said drawings, Figure 1 is a diagram illustratingtherelative arrangement and mode of operation of the several furnaces ofsuch a plant; Fig. 2 is an en larged elevation of the governor apparatusas applied to the variable supply furnaces; F 3 is aside elevation ofone of sues nae-es; Fig. 4: is an enlarged detail of Fig. 5;, with partsin section, illustrating the opera 6 are enlarged details of theadjustable con,- nectlon between the ash-pit and up-talie detail.

Referring to Fig. 1, the steam plant talr'en by Way of illustration,comprises a battery of eight furnace boilers, appropriately connected toa common steam-header 1, and sup which include a blower 2 of usualconstrue tion, a main air-fine and. several branch pipes leadingtherefrom to the respective asnspits of tire several furnaces, asplainly indicated. 'lhe blower engine 5, shownior convenience'as beltedto the blower, receives steam from the main header through a steam-pipeand 'a' throttle 6 therein.- The steam pressure of the-plant, to varythe-adthe load as above mentioned. L

The seyeral furnace boilers, which may be of any appropriatefdesign; aresupplied tion of the governor apparatus: Figs. and

f u dampers, as shown in Fig. l; and Fig. 7 is a plied with forcedair-draft appurtenances,-

said throttleis controlled by a governor 7,- which operates, under-thecontrol of the mission of steam to the blower engine and thereby toincrease or diminish the forced draft to; satisfy an abnormal conditionofv with gearing-interconnecting their respective stack and ash-pitdampers so that by the op= eration of a single handle both dampers feach furnace may be simultaneously opt-1"" his ated, and the saidinterconnecting gearing is supplied with an adjustable connection between the dampers whereby the relative-positions of the two may beshifted, as desired,

sta ntfpart thereof llwliich and their simultaneous operation then beeffected accordingly. Referring-to Fig. 3, the gearing referred tocomprises a' horizontal shaft 8, provided at its forward c with a bevelgear meshing With corresii dnding gear 9 on the hub of a handle lever10, which latter swings upon alocking segment to whiclrit may be lockedbya suitable pawl. The other end of thefshaft is connected by simplegearing with the axle 11 of the'stack damper. The shaft 8 bears a cranksleeve 12, shown more clearly in Figs. 5 and 6, the cram]? of which islinked to the interior air. supp y' or ash-pit damper 13 so-as'to openand close the same, as shownin Fig. hand the said sleeve carries alocking handle 14 that codperates witha notched disk 15 fast on theshaft '8, so that the sleeve may be tired to the sh-aft in difi'erentangular positions. thereon, corresponding to the desired relativeposit-ions of the stack and ash-pit dampers. Theconstruction andoperation. of-the handle 14 will be plain from t-hedrawmg. 7 The boil-crfurnacesmarked A in the'diagram'of Fig. 1, represent the constant supply furnaccaof the plant, and in accordance with this invention thestack and ash-pit dampers of these furnafcesare relatively so adjusted,as by means of the handheld, that the fire-chamber pressure.approximates that of-theatmosphcre, and both dampers are thensimultaneously adjusted, by the operatinghandle" 10, so that with anormalor predetermined delivery of forced air, the operation of, eachfurnace will approach as closely as possible its maximum efiiciency,which condition may be determined'by actual test if necessary or desiredThe rate of combustion in 'suchfurnaces will be practically constant andvariations in such operatiorn'when produced by manipulation of thedan'1per operating handle 1 0 ,will maintain the samefire-chamberpressure. In the preferred practiceof the method,- thedampers of' the constaut.supplyfurnaces rc niain'noi-mally set in theabove described determinate" position, irrespective of what the loadmaybe, the acceleration or retardation.- ot' the operation of such;furnaces, when. necessary, being accomplished-by the, appropriatelfegulation of the speed of the blowereugine, under the control .ot' thegovernor 7;;

The boilers marked B. in Fi g. '1 represent: the fvariablc1'jsu'pply,furnaces, which arev adapted to supply the fluctuatingbalanceof the loa1d',"over and. above thatr orn ally. con-v constant s'uaply'furnaces. f The rate j of com bastion inthesefurnaccs, 111 the.pl'GSODbHE stance, 1 s regulated; jtltliOllllblCfl-HYQ and by.

[s supplied by the means of supplemental air-dampers 16 located inthebranches of the air pipes 4: which lead to the ash-pits of thevariable supply furnaces. Two such furnaces are'shown in v the drawingsThe .supplernentalj'dainpers are mounted ,onlaxles 17 which extend tothe outside of their-respective air pipes, where they carry sprocketwheels 18 by means of which they may be simultaneously operated by themotor mechanism of any suitable, steam-controlled governor. Suchagovernor may be constructed and may operate as shown in Fig. 4, Where asupply and exhaust of water through the pipes 19 and 20 is arranged tooperate a, istonQl within a hydraulic cylinder" 22, to lowing. the adjust-ment of a control valve 23, which latter is operated by a weightedlever 24; thatrests, on a diaphragm 25' of a steamfbox, the said.diaphragm being exposed to the steam pres; sure in the niain'header by apipe-. 26 con nected with its steam box as will bejplain a from thedrawing. The piston is oon nected by a weighted sprocket-cha1n 27 withthe sproeket wheels 18 of the several ya- .9 riable supplyfurnaces, sothat 'the an dam-l pers thereof may be operated inun son w thl,eachother and under the directrcontrolof the steam pressure in theobvious manner. Theconstruction and adjustinentbt governor are such aswill cause itto' respond; asfsensitively as possible to thechanges 1n1-: the steam pressure, so that a decrease thereof, indicating anincrease of the load, will at. a once produce a corresponding openin'gnove;

inent ot'thc air dampers l6 and stimulate 'the'rate of combustion inthevariable fur g] naces sufficiently to raise the pressure t'oi properbalance. .'The the- \'ariablc furnaces i's'desirably 'fixed I to includeall such normal fil ictuatioli; load as occur during usual or ordinaditions. For' example, a range' OjfQ ten pounds, with an adequate numberof va-Q. I riable furnaces, is ordinarily sufficient td a commodateusualrunning fluctuations, but. i such range may be adjusted according to.the judgment of the operator. The 'governor that controls thegeneralregulation, isgset .to respond only to changes in stea n'pressurefurnaces, and when thus calledinto opera tion,- serves'to admit more'orle's sffsteam to variable furnaces, buthsince it need not. be sosensitive, it' may use, steam I instead offwa'te as its motive power foractuating thefthrot tle 6. r The construction and connections, oi thegovernor will' be" apparentflfrom the. .drawin slf j .1 I Thedetermination of therelat-ivenurnbers range'of thecontrol ot' vexceeding the range served by the variable same 1 constructionthatiemploy eld for the I 1 of constantan'dvariable.supply'furnaces;ifdr'iiiib any given steam plant, will obviously de pend uponthe ordinary conditions or" running, and the constant supply furnaceswill preferably be suiiicient in number to ca; y, the maximum constantportion of the load, while the variable furnaces will be suilicient toperform the balance Within reasonable limits of control. On occasionswhen the capacity oi. the plant is desired to be mate rially orpermanently changed, or the range. of normal fluctuations is increasedor diminished. it may be necessary to alter the relative nu i nbcrs ofconstant and variable furnacesfand for this purpose the air-dam pers idof certain of the variable furnaces are detachably fastened to theirsprocketheel 18 and adapted to be manipulated or setJoy a lever 28 faston the axle of each. The lever 28 carries a set-screw 29 (Fig. 5) in itshandle, which cooperates with a series of recesses in an arcuate plate30, fixed on pipe hivliereby the adjustment given to'the damper may bemade permanent.

It will be understood that the several liarnaoes of the steam plantabove described constitute a unit steam supply and that such furnacesare independent. only in the sense that each, generates the portion ofsteam Which it contributes to the total steam supply. 1

Havin described my invention, what 1 claim on w desire to secure byUnited States Letters Patent, is:--

1. The n ethod of generating steam for a unit steam supply consisting ingenerating a portion of the steam for said unit steam sup ply by opeating at a substantially constant rat'e'of combustiom a niunber ofindependent steam-generating turnaces to meet a. constant part of theloaddemand upon said unit steamsupply and generating the remainder ofthe steam for the said unit steam supply by simultaneously operating aturther numbe r sf-furnaces at a rate of combustion varying With-theVariations of the remainder of the load demand upon said unit steam-i 27he method of generating steam for a unit steam supply, consisting ingenerating a portion of the steam for said unit steam supply byoperating at a substantially constant rate of combustion a number ofindependent steam-generating furnaces to meet a constant part or theload demand upon said unit steam supply, and generating the remainder ofthe steam. for said unit steam supply by simultaneously operating afurther number of furnaces by supplying air to the ash-pits thereof at apressure above atmosphere and at a pniform rate of deliyery andadjusting the discharge of gases from the combustion chambers of suchfurnaces relative to'thcir air supply to maintain a predetermineduniform pressure in said chambers, and then simultaneously regulatingthe air supply and gas discharge, Where; by the rate of combustion insaid further number of furnaces is varied without affecting the saidpressure.

The method of generating steam for a unit steam supply, consisting ingenerating, the ma or portion of the steam for said unit steam supply byoperating at a substantially constant rate oi. combustioii a number oftorced-draft, steam-generating furnaces to meet ,a constantpart of theload demand upon said unit steam supply, and generating the remainder ofthe steam for the saidianit'

